This is the first part of a review of the Immortal Hulk Omnibus. I believe this is the first Hulk volume I’ve reviewed. Of course, I have a history with the character. My favorite Hulks are the gentle green giant who wears purple pants and says things like ‘Hulk Smash!,’ as well as the Hulk blasted into space who lands on the planet Sakaar (Hulk the Barbarian). Of course, there’s also Scientist Hulk and Gangster Hulk (aka Joe Fixit).
This volume introduces the Devil Hulk, who only appears at night and seemingly cannot die. Bruce Banner can certainly die; he’s shot in the head at a gas station in the inaugural issue and is dead as a doornail. When night comes, he rises as the Hulk – and this Hulk is very difficult (I won’t say impossible) to kill.
Witness: the aftermath of the Hulk’s battle with The Avengers. He’s been chopped into little pieces, which are placed into jars of formaldehyde. It doesn’t matter. The Hulk breaks out of the jars and regenerates himself. It’s a great scene.
The plot involves a Green Door that leads to another place. That other place seems like it might be Hell, but OTOH it might be somewhere else. Whatever lurks behind the Green Door uses Bruce Banner’s dead father as its catspaw. Or is it Bruce’s father? Banner suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder – forty years ago they’d call it a split personality – so maybe it’s Bruce himself.
Anyway, this omnibus features some of the best Hulk comics I’ve ever read. Writer Al Ewing is writing a great body horror comic. The Hulk has a large cast, almost all of them killed by other writers, but most of them are returning. Banner’s wife Betty is a red gargoyle thing, Rick Jones is sort of the Abomination, and Doc Samson is still Hulk’s favorite (read: only) psychotherapist. Can The Leader and General “Thunderbolt” Ross (Red Hulk) be far behind?
Highly recommended!
Abandoned Places 